Plying the Trade
Descriptions of the medical bay aboard Lunar Veil proved largely correct. Despite what appeared to be a hasty restoration of the space…at least he could see there was one working mop aboard…the floor and countertop marks showed the longterm storage of crates recently removed. The wear marks on the treatment chair’s setting gauges and padding revealed that medical applications were the least action it had seen, barbering and sex being the two most prevalent. Not that Dorian cared. In his experience, folk were always trying to figure out the “where” and “how” to accomplish a successful rut in any and every place imaginable. Barbers’ and dentists’ chairs were likely targets of this interest. Given the nature of trade on the outer rim, he’d also shared such experience when bartering his services against those offered by the occasional female of suitable appeal. At this moment, he was most thankful for the overhead bank of lights whose brilliant glow lit up the inside of Jacy’s mouth. Working back to front, he set a temporary crown on the rearmost of her damaged upper teeth. The next teeth were the greatest opportunity, and the heftiest challenge. These two, a molar and a premolar, had actually come out intact, root and all. The fact that someone had the presence of mind to collect her teeth on the scene offered a vital opportunity to preserve that which nature had given her. The molar slipped right into place, followed by the grafting chip of cadaver bone. Now, the premolar. After a few beads of biodegradable glue were injected, he inclined his head to face her. “We’re resetting the next tooth,” Dorian offered easily. “You’ll feel some pressure as I push it into place.” Throughout the procedure, he’d watched Jacy’s eyes for any sign of alarm or pain. Thus far, the glances she’d returned offered the calm, slightly bored expression of a patient who suffered only the passage of time. He had to admit to himself that her eyes were really quite lovely, though. With a nudge of his thumb, the premolar’s roots slid onto the two undamaged channels. As he pressed, the glue locked down, holding the tooth secure for the next step, grafting. “Graft number two,” he said to his assistant. Nice boy, Dillon. He helped without making a nuisance of himself, and proved a quick learner. Upon request, a small chip of bone, saturated in a combination of Jacy’s blood and a DNA bonding solution, landed in his gloved palm. Dorian gently pressed it into place over the partially exposed roots. He rocked it back and forth, taking note of the deficiencies, before laying the little chip face up on his tool tray. ”We need a slight groove,” he offered up, “to allow the graft to lie correctly.” The high pitch of a dental drill could be heard as the dentist applied a series of gentle touches to bore out an indentation. He returned it to Jacy’s mouth, frowned beneath his surgical mask at the result, and bored upon it for another few strokes. This time, the bone graft lay smoothly, bridging protection over the partially exposed roots. After placing the work under a protective layer of sealant, he was ready to close the gum. This would normally call for a simple pass with a tissue bonder to reset the flap he’d cut. Unfortunately, the violent removal of her teeth through the sidewall had shredded portions of the gum. Some had already gone necrotic for loss of blood supply, forcing removal. The surviving tissue would not cover the resulting gaps. To solve this, Dorian cut a small piece of biomesh. After placing it over the bone grafts, he used a few sutures to adhere the loose tissue in its’ natural place, more or less. “The good thing about gum tissue,” he said for the benefit of both Dillon and Jacy, “is its’ resiliency. It heals very quickly. Even those gaps will close up in about a week’s time, with daily irrigations.” Two more sutures on each side had the gum and surgical mesh moving as one. “Now we’ll close up,” he said, as the bonder sealed the entire flap back into place. “Well,” Dorian stretched his back as he rose from the stool, “that’s the main event. Let’s finish.” Soon after, the remaining broken teeth were all prepared and safely enclosed in temporary crowns. The dentist then had his patient bite down with her uninjured side into a mold filled with vile tasting muck. This quickly hardened into impressions of her upper and lower teeth. “For the permanent crowns,” Dorian explained. “I’ll do mirror imaging to create what we need. If your healing is good, we should be able to place these in a week,” he offered. “Now, here’s what you need to do.” Dorian removed his mask as he boosted the treatment chair upright. The various tools of his surgery were all placed into a tray as he gave his instructions. “Liquid diet for two days. We’ll graduate to soft foods after that,” he said. “Salt water gargle three times a day…and these for pain,” Adler voiced as he handed her the pill bottle. “Two every six hours…and no self medicating or any other drugs without my approval. Are we clear on this?”